Lone Star Loss Control

Increase productivity by creating a safe working environment

Help employees feel that they are working in safe environment; it frees up employees to focus on their quality and their productivity. The safer the organization is, the less frequently the organization will experience large scale disruption. Quality improves safety and productivity.

Make sure there are less injury accidents, both reportable and non-reportable, that has a direct effect on what a company pays in insurance premiums.

Help our clients  secure new business and obtain lower insurance costs

Both you and many of customers want to be sure they are doing business with a well managed company. A key indicator of a company well managed is:

• A quality well written safety program.
• Written employee work rules and policies.
• Evidence that employees are being trained.
• That the company’s financial strength will affect by OSHA fines.
• That all employees can understand training, written instructions and company policies, regardless of language.

Lone Star is perfectly positioned to do this: 

• 25 years of experience in writing employee policy and safety manuals.
• 25 years of experience in writing safety programs for customers attempting to secure work.
• 25 years of experience dealing with customer OSHA citations and compliance issues.
• 25 years of providing training and written material in English and Spanish.

Service & Product Highlights 

Spanish Employees

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Spanish speaking employees typically bring the desire to work hard and establish a new life. Many bring important skills. These employees have proven that they will work hard and are valuable assets to employers. They also bring a few problems for employers. 

• Many do not speak English. 
• They have different work traditions and attitudes.
• Many English safety terms have no Spanish counterpart. For example: there is no word in Spanish for forklift. Usually this is explained in Spanish as a wagon that lifts.
• Your supervisors usually have little formal training in Spanish and do not have an adequate vocabulary to accurately translate safety material to employees.

 

We have been providing safety training to Spanish speaking employees for over 25 years and have created a variety of training solutions for these employees. For example:

• All our training material is in English and Spanish.
• We use pictures as often as possible to improve understanding.
• We have bi-lingual instructors.
• We have employee policy and safety manuals in English and Spanish.
• We have training material designed to help supervisors with the unique problems of these workers.

Safety Inspections

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With 25 years  of experience  dealing OSHA Inspections, accident investigations, Lone Star understands what OSHA wants and what is needed to prevent preventable injuries. 

Our experienced staff will inspection your facility just as an OSHA inspector would do. Then will prepare a detailed report of findings. 

Safety Training 

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Safety training is important for a variety of reasons: It helps to remind employees what is needed to prevent injuries, It reduces liability as a result of injury or fatal accident, It helps in securing better insurance rates and it is a key issue potential buyers of services and products will review when selecting a company for their projects. Lastly, it can reduce potential OSHA fines. We offer the following services to secure these advantages 

Modular Training Service (MTS) solves the problem of time and money since it gives you the option having safety training without stopping production for safety meetings. With MTS, you pay a modest fee and every month each employee reads a safety message, on over 75 subjects, using a 3-part sealed module. The employee then takes a short test at the bottom of the module to measure understanding. The supervisor breaks the seals 

Instructor Services To have a supervisor preparing for a safety meeting can be a costly. The time to research the issues, become familiar with the subject matter and then effectively present to employees all take too much time. Time a supervisor doesn’t have. For fraction of the cost you can have a knowledgeable instructor conduct your safety meetings in English or Spanish.

 

Supervisor Training Supervisors often believe safety takes too much of their time, interferes with production and has little benefit to them. Thus, every step of implementing a safety program or safety training can be slow and tedious. Supervisor Training is designed to help supervisors understand the importance of safety, give them valuable knowledge in order meet their safety responsibilities. Training fees start at $500 per class.

Sub Contractor Kits

 

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All General Contractors face the possibility of a subcontractor or one of his employees or helpers, claiming benefits they may not be entitled to. Most Contractors rely on the Workers Comp Forms completed by the subcontractor to prove that the subcontractor is an independent contractor. Unfortunately, these forms have proven to be insufficient documentation to prevent a job injury or an OSHA Violation ending up their lap. This experience has shown the importance of additional documentation. The Sub Contractor Kit meets this need by including:

 

• An agreement between Sub and the GC on 2 part NCR Paper. You won’t need a copier.
• Required Workers Comp Forms in 3 Part NCR Paper.
• IRS Form W-9
• The Sub Contractor’s Safety Manual in English and Spanish.

 

The agreement with the Sub Contractor has these provisions: 

• Affirmation of being an Independent Contractor.
• Indemnification Agreement
• How Worker Compensation Premiums will be paid.
• How the Contractor gets paid.
• Defines the Sub Contractor responsibilities for OSHA / EPA Compliance, Taxes, and Safety Requirements.
• Defines and clarifies the Sub Contractors Duties, including: Making sure no alcohol or drugs are used by his employees on the job site and that his employees will not tamper with other contractor’s tools, etc. 

Required Annual Training 

Employees are required to receive training annually on variety of issues. 

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At a minimum, every year your employees are required to receive training on:

• Using fire extinguishers
• Lockout/Tagout
• Emergences such as fire, injury accidents, evacuations, etc.
• Working with hazardous chemicals, the use of Safety Data, labeling of containers, etc.

 

In addition, some employees will be required to receive the following training:

• Confined Space
• Trenching
• Fall Protection
• Respirator Safety

 

Forklift, Aerial and Overhead Crane

 

OSHA requires overhead crane, aerial lift (scissor and boom lifts) and forklift operators to be trained. Generally, this involves class room instruction (lecture or viewing DVD or both), satisfactorily completing a written test and demonstrating the operator’s knowledge and skill level by successfully operating the equipment to the instructor’s satisfaction. 

 

We offer instructor based training or training material. Regardless of the method of training you choose, all the material, videos and instructors are in English and/or Spanish. In addition, we provide easy to use training records, including a checklist for completing the driving or operator’s test.

New Employee Training

 

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• Do employees take advantage of you just because you are little disorganized?

• Are you being hassled by your insurance agent or CPA about documentation?

• Have you paid Unemployment Benefits to someone who should have not qualified?

• If you were asked in court to show your training records, could you?

• Have you ever hired an employee who couldn’t read or use a measuring tape?

The Safety Orientation Kit is for those companies that are happy with their hiring kit, but don’t have a formal documented safety orientation program. OSHA compliance experts generally agree that a new employee should be oriented to these issues at a minimum:

• Written Basic Safety Rules and Procedures
• Fire Safety and Use of Fire Extinguishers 
• HAZ-COM and SDS Training.
• Lockout/Tagout Training
• Training on what to do in event of Fire, Tornado, Employee Injury, etc
• Back Safety Training

 

The Safety Orientation Kit does all this and more. It even includes Self Grading Examinations. This provides a formal statement of the employee’s understanding of these matters. Besides giving you great training documentation, it will tell you about reading skills and something about their work attitudes. It comes in Spanish too!

 

Safety Orientation Kits are available for general industry, plumbing & air condition contractors, restaurants.

 

Employee Documentation Kit  has everything the Safety Orientation Kit has, PLUS. . .

• Application in English & Spanish (E & S)
• Drug Test Agreement (E & S)
• Release of information agreement (E & S)
• Weapons & Contraband Agreement (E & S)
• I-9 and W-4
• Employee Warning Forms (E & S)
• Supervisor Termination Report
• Employee Termination Form
• Employment History Information
• Record of Training Agreement (E & S

 

Lockout/Tagout

 

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In recent OSHA survey, over 60% of the employees who were employed by a company involved in injuries related to Lockout/Tagout, had not received any form of Lockout/Tagout Training. It’s no wonder so many serious injuries are related improper or failure use Lockout/Tagout. Due to this OSHA fines are high, typically around $ 5,000 or more.

 

We believe the reason for this is:

• No understanding what Lockout/Tagout (LOTO) covers
• Lack understanding of how to Lockout equipment and what tools are needed.
• Failure to understand what is needed to have LOTO program.

 

So, what may be needed in a LOTO Program?

1. Making a list of your equipment, showing what stored type power is involved when the equipment is operating or maintenance work is needed. For example, a press’s power sources maybe: electricity, hydraulic pressure, and gravity.
2. Then you need explanation how the equipment is going be LOTO.
3. You need a written program explaining how your LOTO program will work. For example, who is charge of the program, who can implement LOTO, etc.
4. You will need to Train the Authorized Employees. These are employees who are responsible for implementing LOTO. Also, training the effected employees, who have the responsibility not to tamper with any LOTO.

 

We can help …all the way in getting your Lockout/Tagout program up and running. We can help you inventory your equipment, list the power sources, and determining what is needed to Lockout each piece of equipment. In addition, we have Lockout/Tagout Kits designed to train your Authorized Employees

 

Employee Manuals

 

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Employee manuals listing the company’s work and safety rules, benefits, policies, etc. are needed for every business with employees. If I am small company why do I need an employee manual?

 

Answer

 

Without written rules you find yourself with employee creating their own benefits and work responsibilities. Let me illustrate this by this true story . . . . 

This is a story about how expensive automotive paint vanished and the suspected thief was rewarded with unemployment checks. It all began when the owner of a Auto Collision Repair Shop discovered that $ 12,000 of expensive paint used exclusively for high end German imported cars was missing.

The shop manager had the only key to the storage room where the paint was stored and seemed to have more money than usual to buy things, like an expensive boat.  There was insufficient proof to bring criminal charges, the owner’s only recourse was to fire the manager.  

However, the story didn’t end there. The manager filed an unemployment claim which the owner promptly fought saying it was the manager’s responsibility to properly secured the paint.  The owner lost and former manager began receiving unemployment checks at the owner’s expense.

WHY? Well, the owner never put work rules in writing. He never formally said that it was the employee’s responsibility to protect company property under their custody and control. You never know when a few written words can save you a ton of money. This is why written rules and policies are key to protecting the business; employee manuals are important.

You might thing that most of these rules are simply common sense; but common sense is frighteningly uncommon. A business without written policies and procedures is simply allowing its employees to decide what to do and when. Employee manuals are an important foundation for good business.

 

The real question Is not “ If you need an employee manual but, “What should be in your manual?  We know the answer to this question because we have heard this story and hundreds of others from owners over the last 25 years.